The Mission
by jessmerrick
Summary: Major Sheppard has assembled the troops for a very special mission indeed. It may be scary, it may be hard, but they will attempt the mission, and they must not fail...


A/N: This is based on a scene or two from Higher Ground, I admit. But it's kinda mine because I took the idea and made it my own, pinching only a couple of lines and actions.

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Major John Sheppard nodded as the last member of his specially requested team arrived in the room, the door hissing as it closed behind him. He jumped up, so that he was sitting on one of the islands in the middle of the room, swinging his legs and tapping on the surface.

Someone coughed, and there were several mutters from the personnel stood at attention, focusing on him and waiting for him to say…something. They had all been called out of their quarters at 5am, and had been informed they had been selected for an emergency operation.

And now, they were standing here, waiting, still. There were no sirens blaring, just a man, sat on a cupboard, staring back at them.

As a civilian, a person who could question what the hell Major Sheppard was thinking, dragging them all out of bed for a large staring contest, Doctor Rodney McKay stepped forward. "Is there a reason you called us here?" Usually he would be sarcastic, but it was too early for anything astoundingly clever to come to mind.

"Yes, there was a reason," Sheppard replied, falling silent for a moment. He studied Rodney's raised eyebrows, and then nodded in understanding. "Ohhh…yeah. Sorry, I'm just trying to work out how the hell we're going to pull off this mission. We've never done anything like this before. The enemy is unknown, and frightening. We may well lose, but we have to try."

There were a couple of gulps, probably both from Rodney. "What is the mission?" Aiden Ford spoke up, stepping forward, showing that he respected his commander and that he would follow him into whatever danger awaited. "Sir?"

"We…" Sheppard began, hopping down and pulling a sheet off of one of the nearby islands, "are going to bake a birthday cake for our beloved leader, Doctor Elizabeth Weir. It's a horrible, horrible mission, the enemy, namely, the oven, is crippling me with terror, but it's something that has to be done. Elizabeth is a very important person and I would like to surprise her. Birthdays are a bitch out here, especially when you have people thinking about you back home."

There were several odd noises from the troops, some of them quite obviously good, relieved that they weren't going out against the Wraith, but some sounding worried. Rodney spoke up again, the expedition's medical doctor, Beckett, at his side. "Major, you've read our recommendations and our files. Where in any of that did it give you the idea we knew how to bake a cake?"

"You're a genius," Sheppard said, knowing exactly what to say to get the scientist to help him. "You must know."

Rodney chuckled, faking embarrassment. "Yes, well, that's true. I suppose we could give it a try. I could build a bomb in two minutes flat, how much harder can a cake be? As long as it isn't something fancy…"

"You guys are the best of the best," Sheppard continued. "We can do this."

"We're tech gods, scientists and soldiers," Beckett sighed. His Scottish accent was especially obvious when he was stressed, like, for instance, now. "But we will try." All of the people gathered took a giant step forward.

"Let's get to work!" Sheppard grinned.

Four men knelt in front of the Ancient's very advanced and groovy looking oven. The timer beeped, and they all gulped and looked at each other, none of them wanting to be the one to assess the damage. "Who gets the honour?"

"It was your idea, sir," Ford pointed out.

"Yes, but we all contributed," the older man replied. "Uh…Rodney, I order you to take out the cake."

The scientist groaned, paused, and then finally complied, taking the oven mitts, donning them, and receiving some laughs. "Hey! It's not my fault they are pink and yellow! Who's are they anyway…aren't they yours, Lieutenant Ford?" The laughing ceased immediately, Ford had obviously been the culprit.

"No, you're mistaken, Doctor," the young man replied.

"Nope, don't think so," Rodney muttered, inspecting the tag that read PROPERTY OF AIDEN FORD.

The Lieutenant blushed – blushed! "My mom insisted on sewing my stuff," he admitted.

"Can we get back to the matter at hand?" Carson asked, and the boy could have kissed him. No, never confused…but he certainly could have given him a manly hug.

Rodney slowly opened the oven door, reached in and removed the tin, placing it on the work surface. They gasped as they peered down at it. "It's horrific!" Beckett exclaimed, taking a half step backwards.

Ford gazed at it in horror, as did Sheppard. "We have created a monster."

"Icing," Rodney finally said. "Icing might fix it." Sheppard disappeared for a moment, around the corner, and then returned with a tube of icing. "I guess someone thought it was important to have cake in the Pegasus galaxy."

Doctor Elizabeth Weir wandered down the deserted corridor and frowned. Her hands on her hips, she stood for a moment, wondering where everyone could be. After a couple of minutes she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Sheppard, looking very pleased with himself. "John, where is everyone?" She asked.

"Come with me, please," he said, gently guiding her towards the kitchens. When they arrived at their destination, she found a very messy kitchen full of flour-covered soldiers and scientists. They were all stood to attention, even the civilians, straight faced.

"Why did you bring me to the kitchen, Major?" Elizabeth asked, with a small sigh. It was her birthday, and she felt very old indeed. Last year hadn't really been like that, but she'd had Simon to assure her she was still young, beautiful and very, very desirable. Now she was here, without him, with no way to get home. And none of the Pegasus crew knew her birthday was April 18th, she didn't think.

"Well, we all got up very early this morning because I found out that it was someone's birthday," he replied, and smiled to himself as her face lit up. "And we decided to make you a cake." He turned slightly, as Beckett and Rodney unravelled the cake, waving their arms at it like models demonstrating…something cool.

Elizabeth stepped forward, inspecting it. She stood for a moment, turned to face her staff, and smiled. She wiped her eyes. "Thank you, all of you. This means a lot to me, it was a very kind thing for you all to do. I appreciate your hard work, I know catering is not your speciality…any of you. Thanks." The men all nodded to each other, congratulating themselves and returning to work or their quarters. Beckett, Rodney, Teyla and Ford all gave her smiles and quick happy birthdays, and then left to get cleaned up. When they were alone, Elizabeth turned to John. "This was all your idea."

"The guys all helped," he shrugged.

"Thank you," she said. She really was amazed, these people had, without realising it, done something that meant a lot to her. It was a small gesture, but one that spoke volumes about what she meant to them. They were a family.

"Want to try it?" Sheppard asked hopefully, ready to go and get a fork for her. She shook her head, grabbing a tea towel, and covering the ugly cake with it.

"I think I'll save it for later, better cover it up…in case…of, uh, flies…" And with that she gave him another smile, and left him alone with his cake.


End file.
